Faced with the imminent threat of closure of the scrap metal industry arising out of official charges that metal thieves are destroying millions of dollars worth of telecommunications, water and electricity infrastructure, the Guyana Scrap Metal Dealers Association (GSMDA) is claiming that its commitment to cooperating with the authorities to stamp out metal theft is being frustrated by the mixed signals being sent by the police in instituting charges against offenders..
GSMDA President Percy Cole told Stabroek Business in an interview earlier this week that the Association is both “baffled and concerned” over the failure by the police to institute charges against persons involved in the discovery of several transformers belonging to the Guyana Power and Light Company (GPL) on private premises in south Georgetown and the detention by police of a truck laden with copper and reportedly bound for illegal overland export to Brazil.
Stabroek Business has seen a copy of a letter sent to Prime Minister Samuel Hinds by GSMDA Secretary Telford Layne earlier this week expressing disappointment over the fact that no charges have as yet been instituted in either case. In his letter Layne said that the GSMDA had been instrumental in the discovery of the truck laden with copper which the Association claims was bound for Brazil.
Up to earlier this week Stabroek Business had secured confirmation from police sources that no charges have been instituted in the East Bank metal bust. And last Tuesday GPL Public Relations Officer Marjorie Chester told Stabroek Business that the power company had already completed its internal investigation into the transformer incident and that those findings had been passed to the police for onward transmission to the Director of Public Prosecutions.
In his letter to the Prime Minister Layne said that the failure of the police to charge the offenders in either case was giving rise to a feeling of despondency among legitimate scrap metal dealers who are concerned that their efforts to help clean up the trade are being frustrated by the tardiness of the authorities. Layne said that while illegal operators continued to thrive on the theft of metals, the legal operators in the industry had had their businesses placed “on hold” as a result of official action.
Meanwhile Cole told Stabroek Business that the proceedings against persons involved in the theft of the GPL transformers ought to “look very closely” at the possibility that the removal of the transformers from the GPL’s Sophia site may well have been facilitated by what he described as “inside help.” While the GPL has made no comment on Cole’s assertion the GSMDA head is insisting that the security arrangements at Sophia are sufficiently “tight” to make it “difficult if not impossible” for transformers to be removed from the site without the help of persons employed there. Some unlicensed scrap dealers have admitted privately that they have worked in league with GPL employees to acquire copper and brass materials contained in transformer canisters.
Cole said that he believed that the two “busts” had provided the authorities with an opportunity to “back up” its stated declaration that it was seeking to stamp out the theft of metals from the utility companies. According to Cave failure to lay charges up to this time had given rise to speculation in the industry that the authorities may not be as anxious as they claim to remove the illegalities from the industry. He added that the GSMDA was now inclined to the view that the current focus was on criminalizing the entire industry in order to make a case for its complete closure rather than to seek to “clean up” the trade. “If charges are laid against the persons involved in these incidents the police may get to know more about the illegal side of the scrap metal trade and that is what the Association is seeking to bring about,” Cole said.
In the case of the truck apprehended on the East Bank Cole told Stabroek Business that it was almost certain that the vehicle was transporting copper to be illegally exported. He said that the illegal trans-border trade in scrap metal had increased significantly since the halting of official exports in May last year. According to Cole the illegal trade involved various Asian and Brazilian operators representing overseas scrap buyers. He said that those operators were not particularly concerned about the means by which they secured metal or the sources of the scrap that they bought.
In January this year the Guyana Telephone and Telegraph Company (GT&T) reported that there had been a resurgence of vandalism targeting its insulated copper cable following a lull of several months. Cole claims that the resurgence of metal theft reported by GT&T was almost certainly the result of the accelerated overland movement of metal since, according to him, those shipments that government has decided to allow to leave the country are now subject to inspection procedures involving both government officials and officials representing the utility companies.
